With the afternoon sun beating down on a south-facing wall over Hawthorne Street, volunteers gathered to unveil a sculpture replacing what had been one of Fallbrook’s oldest murals.

Titled “Roots,” the metal piece depicts an oak tree, with more than a dozen pieces of steel welded and bolted together by Escondido artist Melissa Ralston.

The sculpture was commissioned by the nonprofit Fallbrook Arts Inc., with nearly $8,000 raised by the Art in Public Places committee as of last weekend to cover the approximately $8,300 price tag.

The original mural, “Treescape,” was painted by Debbie Sievers in 1998. The work was a tribute to Save Our Forest, the volunteer group responsible for planting thousands of trees throughout Fallbrook.

Over the years, though, art officials here found that the unprotected, south-facing wall overlooking Hawthorne was not a suitable place for a painting.

By the mid-2000s, it had faded so badly that it had to be touched up and recoated.

On Saturday, committee chair Sandi LeMasters reflected on the day in 2011 when Save Our Forest founder and President Jackie Heyneman called her to say something had to be done about the cracked mural.

“So we formed a committee, and 18 months later, here we are — it’s not a mural,” LeMasters told an audience of about 50 people gathered Saturday on Hawthorne. “This will be the 30th piece of public art in Fallbrook, which I think is pretty good for a small community.”

Standing in front of the sheet that would drop to reveal “Roots” moments later, Heyneman praised Ralston’s efforts.

“When you see the work that she has done with this piece, you will be amazed,” Heyneman said. “The care she has taken to make it last, so that it’s not going to drip down the wall, and rust, or be a hazard — all of those extra little things she’s done to make this a piece that lasts.”